Falling Close to the Tree
by cockycute
Summary: Cora hates her life and everyone in it, so she jumps at the chance to learn magic and improve her life, but she's no fun for Rumpelstilstskin to corrupt. Maybe her innocent daughter will be more fun. Possibly a prologue.


Being poor made Cora want to kill someone. She was tired of working all day long every day of her life and barely making ends meet. She wanted more out of life. She wanted love and glamour, but most of all, she wanted power. She wanted people to see her and become petrified with fear. She wanted the respect that she had never gotten from anyone. After all, who would respect a woman whose dad was too busy drinking and carousing at night and too hungover in the morning to work, a girl whose mom had chronic depression that was so debilitating that she couldn't even get up in the morning most days. A woman whose only forms of income were working in equal capacity as a barmaid and a prostitute when drunk men from the bar wanted to do more with her than just grab parts of her body and leer at her low-cut dress. It was a hard life. She could see it starting to take its toll on her, in the dark bags under her eyes from working all night, the pinched look in her mouth from the unhappiness her job caused, the puffiness in her face from the alcohol she drank to numb the pain of her pointless, hopeless life. She was starting to lose her looks, the only good thing she actually possessed.

Cora had heard whispers of a powerful "Dark One" who could help people achieve their deepest desires if they were willing to pay the price. Cora thought that it was just the superstitious ramblings of empty-headed people. Until he found her. She was working at the bar one night, listening to the louds ramblings of drunk pirates and depressed lovers when she saw a small man with an odd skin condition that could only be described as looking like golden scales. His condition fascinated and repulsed her in almost equal amounts. Her fascination won out however, and she walked over to his table on the pretense of taking his drink order. She tried not to stare as she mumbled about the night's two for one special on Dragon's Blood ale.

"Would you like to learn magic dearie?" The question, along with the strange accent that accompanied it shocked her back into the present.

"Excuse me?" She asked, sure that she had heard wrong.

"Would you like to learn magic, my dear? Because I can teach you. Don't pretend to be scandalized. I can see the greed in your eyes, the hunger for power, the need for wealth and recognition. I can give you all of these things, but only if you're willing to learn magic."

Cora was skeptical, "What's in it for you? I've heard that you never do anything if there isn't something in it for you."

"Well, there's the pride of helping an talented student realize her potential, and, of course your firstborn child."

"I don't plan on having children."

"Whether you plan on it or not, you'll have one, and she's mine to do with what I please."

"Is that all?"  
Rumpelstiltskin giggled. "Of course. Now, do we have a deal?"

"Yes." Cora said, trying to keep the smugness out of her voice, sure that she'd gotten the better end of the bargain. Then, remembering why she'd come over in the first place she asked "Oh, would you like to order a drink?"

"No drink for me dearie, I already have what I came here for." The strange gold man replied with a predatory smile. It struck Cora as strange that people called him the Dark One when there was really nothing dark about him. Actually, once you got past the shock of his gold skin, he was actually quite attractive. Cora fought the impulse to grab his scaly gold face and kiss him. She wondered what was wrong with herself. She'd never felt this way about a man before. She told herself that it was just because he was offering her power. Weren't many women attracted to power? Yes, that's what it was, she told herself, it's just an attraction to power that she was feeling, not actual affection towards someone, because once a person got you to love them, they had complete power over you. Her weak, pathetic mom was a perfect example of this. She had fallen in love with Cora's dad, and then become a complete shadow of who she had been before. Love made you weak, and weak was something that Cora had vowed to herself was something she would never be.

Cora learned the magic fast. She was a naturally quick study and her hunger for power helped her devour the magical knowledge even faster. Rumplestiltskin could feel her inner cruelty, the brutality that had been put thrust into her through years of hard living and disillusionment with life. It made her strong. She was the perfect pupil. Attentive and ravenous for knowledge. There wasn't a molecule of kindness or restraint within her. She was ideal for his purposes, but he couldn't help but wish that she had some amount of kindness, that she had something within her that he could corrupt, something good within her that he could have the pleasure of destroying. Which is why he was delighted when she gave birth to her daughter. She was a beautiful baby, with lovely thick dark hair. He could feel the good within her when he held her. She was so kind, so gentle, so unlike her monster of a mother, which is why he couldn't do it. He couldn't destroy her innocence and turn her into the power-hungry, selfish, evil sociopath that her mother had always been. Rumpelstiltskin felt a connection to this baby that he couldn't explain. He wanted to protect her, to take care of her and make sure that nothing bad ever happened to her. He didn't want to destroy this beautiful baby, but he had to collect, so he took the baby, with Cora screaming and crying and calling him every name imaginable. He could see that she loved the baby, which was something that he had formerly thought her to be incapable of.

He brought the baby back the next day, with a story about the ceaseless screaming. Cora haughtily told him that some people just didn't have the resolve to be parents. He agreed with her and never asked the baby's name. He didn't want to feel even more of an emotional connection to her than he already did, which is also why he didn't come back until her wedding day.

Rumpelstiltskin was shocked by how kind and gentle Regina had grown up to be, especially considering who her mother was. She was so different from Cora, her eyes were kind, not greedy and she was so innocent. She was so pure that it almost made him sad when he thought about what the magic he would teach her would turn her into. Almost. He still had to create a monster, and he needed a challenge. Yes, Regina would do just fine.


End file.
